Psychology seeks to answer many types of questions:

Why are some things difficult to remember and others difficult to forget?

How do we choose our friends and lovers?

Swarthmore's Psychology Department has strengths in clinical, developmental, social, cognitive, physiological, and cultural aspects of the field, offering something for every student who is interested in understanding human nature.

Psychologists use diverse approaches to understand human relationships, mental and emotional life, decision-making, and the relationships between language, perception, the mind and the brain.

They explore the development of a person from infancy through adulthood. They study people as thinking, feeling individuals and also as interdependent members within the diverse network of social roles, relationships, and cultural values in which they live. They look at the biological bases of how people interpret, represent, and act on the world around them.

By enriching and deepening the understanding of human behavior, psychologists seek to articulate explanatory principles, and also to develop solutions for interpersonal conflict and means of preventing and treating mental illness and dysfunction.

Students at Swarthmore can engage in research in Neuroscience, Psycholinguistics, Depression Prevention, Cognitive Development, Perception and Action, Self-Control, Cultural Psychology, and many other areas of psychological inquiry.

Resources

True Grit: Passion and Perseverance for Long-Term Goals

Angela Duckworth, Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

Angela Duckworth won a 2013 MacArthur Fellowship. She is associated with the study of the psychological trait known as grit. In this presentation, Angela Duckworth reviews her research on grit, the tendency to pursue challenging goals over years with perseverance and passion. Please join the Psychology Department Thursday, December 4, 2014, 7:30 PM, Science Center 101. All are welcome!

Crowdsourcing Humor: The New Yorker Caption Contest

Robert Mankoff, Cartoon Editor of The New Yorker Magazine

Bob Mankoff, The New Yorker's cartoon editor, will analyze the lessons we learn from crowdsourced humor. Along the way, he'll explore how cartoons work (and sometimes don't); how he makes decisions about what cartoons to include; and what crowds can tell us about a good joke. Thursday, October 30, 2014, 7:00 PM, Science Center 101. Co-Sponsored by: Department of Psychology and Department of Art.

Alumni Reflections

Student Experiences

Khendi White, Psychology and biology double major: "In addition to building a study from the ground up, I have also been able to collect data, conduct my own analyses, and present my findings at two conferences."